Trophies
by sofieblaze96
Summary: London is being haunted by a serial killer and Sherlock is struggling to come to terms with who it is, just as things seem at its worse a copycat comes to the city so the killer and detective work together, the only thing Sherlocks worried about is how long will their little alliance last for? I suck at summaries.


**Okay so first multichaptep YAY! Please give me any feed back on how i can help improve my writing because I'm not amazing ^^' Anyway Mary and John are not together in this but Mary is still in it. Enjoy and review thanks ^^**

'A serial killer with a steady hand 'is all Sherlock could say about this killer for now. The victims either bled out with a finely cut wound that was almost un-recognisable. The wound was normally to the spine meaning the victim would be paralysed and bleed out slowly un-able to move or, they would have a sliced neck, which meant they bled out anyway. There was no order to the killings. It was just a random person on the street. Drunk, layer, sales man, dancer, artist, there was no link, they were just out of the safety of their homes at the wrong times. Sherlock had little to no evidence towards this case that would pin it to a person, the fact that the victims weren't linked made it so almost everyone in London could be a killer. There was only one object that was missing from all of the victims. It was normally small in insignificant to the victim but it obviously meant something to the victim. Every victim was missing a button. It could have been from a jumper or t shirt even from the shoes if they had one. There was always a button missing. A trophy. But with trophies, there was always meaning to them. But what possible meaning could a button have? What was the relevance of the button to the killer? If Sherlock found this out he knew he would be a huge step closer to the killer as the meaning was personal to them.

"John, we're done here,"

"Any closer to finding out who the killer is?" John asked as he looked over to Sherlock.

"Not as close as I'd like to be John," Sherlock sighed irritated as he looked back down to the corpse taking any more information in in case in the very small unlikely chance he missed something. "They've been killing for too long and I'm still no closer to finding them, no closer to solving this case," Sherlock stood up and started walking away from the crime scene. John stood up as well following the detective quickly.

"You'll find them Sherlock," John reassured because he thought that was all he could do at this moment in time.

Sherlock knew the killer was male and they knew what they were doing, skill goes into these killings. He looked to the front and saw the DI walking towards them.

"I'm no closer Lestrade so don't even ask," Sherlock said quickly and walked straight passed Greg.

"You being clueless is scarier than you enjoying the case," Greg said looking to John and John just shook his head convincing the DI that Sherlock really had found nothing, this was worrying beyond words.

The day had been long, small non-important and boring cases had given Sherlock little excitement, then this case turned up about a month ago and in that space of time, three victims had turned up, however recent old case reports have told Sherlock that these three deaths could be victims twenty to twenty three not first to third victims which means this person has been living in London for a few years and Sherlock had no idea about this case, not until that body was found in the themes, obviously the killer was smart and this made the case just as interesting.

"Maybe we should go to Angelos, to cool off and relax a little?" John suggested as he put a hand up to Sherlocks shoulder to stop him from walking away. "We all need a break, even you,"

"You've hardly done anything except stand there and applaud me like a sea lion if I find something out which if your clearly placid mind hasn't figured out yet hasn't happened very much," Sherlock practically snapped to the doctor but all John did was sigh. Sherlock was always like this when he was irritated.

"We're going to Angelos, doctors' orders," John said again a little more authoritive. Sherlock looked over to the calm doctor. Normally Sherlock was the calm one but John loved danger apart from the risen heart rate he was over all calm and almost certainly excited. The detective eventually nodded, maybe taking a break would actually do him some good. John smiled in reply to the nod. "I'll flag a taxi down then,"

The taxi journey was quiet, unusually quiet. It wasn't always like this, however the last thing John wanted was to start an argument with the consulting detective knowing he'd loose and be verbally insulted to the ends of the earth. Sherlock looked to the doctor, over the past few months he'd been having…odd moments. There was no explanation for them they were hardly noticeable but Sherlock notices everything. The only thing that could explain the 'odd' behaviour was probably the amount of one night dates he'd be having, John was always a little off when he'd been…rejected. But there were some days when his 'normal' routine would change ever so slightly, something so simple like 'John staying in bed for an extra ten to twenty minutes when he turned his alarm off' was defiantly not the normal routine, on most days as soon as that alarm went off, John was up and making tea for them both. There were little things but Sherlock thought they were to…different? The taxi pulled up to Angelos and both men got out, John obviously paid before going back to Sherlocks side as they both entered the building. It was nice to be here both men admitted that quietly, they hadn't been here in weeks maybe even months. This case had taken pretty much all of Sherlocks attention.

"I'm guessing you're going for the usual?" John asked, looking to the detective.

"Yes, as alwa-"Sherlock caught a glimpse of a white bandage that was barely visible under the sleeve of the doctors' jumper. "What happened?" Sherlock asked, raising an eyebrow. John looked to his wrist and pulled his sleeve down.

"it's nothing, a patient had a mini panic attack, there was a struggle and my hand got caught on something sharp, it's not a bad wound but I only had bandages available to me so I used the smallest one I could find.

"What were you doing to the patient?"

"There was something wrong with his chest and reacted, after a while he stopped struggling and I could carry on, telling him everything was okay," John smiled a little. "I'll have some chips, I ate before I got your text,"

"Work has been keeping you up late recently," Sherlock asked resting his elbows on the table. He'd been blanking out John for the past few days the least he could do was try and make some small talk, even if he didn't really want to.

"Yeah surgery has been extremely busy it's summer, so warm late nights means more alcohol involved parties and coincidently more patients who get into petti fights. I meant to text you but forgot, sorry about that,"

"I understand, you help people John, it's in your nature to, you've been doing it for as long as you can remember,"

"And I have enough time to go on cases with you, I'm used to busy and chaotic days,"

"They're less chaotic then when you were in service, like you said, everyone should relax at some point, however I believe your obsession with danger will over shadow that," the food arrived and they started eating, it was fairly silent as they ate but being in the company of one another felt like enough. It was certainly relaxing in Sherlocks mind and he surprised himself by almost finishing his plate.

"Looks like you needed that," John said as he placed his cutlery down.

"Maybe I did,"

"See doctors' orders actually help,"

"And only an idiot argues with his doctor,"

"You're an idiot most of the time then," John said standing up and grabbing his jacket. "We should head home, you haven't had a proper nights sleep in days,"

"I don't need much sleep john, my body doesn't need it right now,"

"You still need rest Sherlock, you need to be at your best to catch this guy,"

"I am at my best John, always am,"

_'Now he's an idiot,' _John sighs "there's no getting through to you is there?"

"I'm surprised you even bothered John," John gave a slightly sarcastic smile in which Sherlock returned with equal sarcasm. Both men left promptly and decided to walk home since it wasn't that far away from the flat.

"I hardly understand the killer John," Sherlock said suddenly out of the blue.

"And why's that? You normally understand everybody," John said becoming interested.

"He's not out of control or power hungry, he knows exactly what he's doing but I can't find him. There are no witnesses, the killing is quick but enjoyable. He likes doing it, well it's obvious he does. Buttons are his trophies, I believe they mean a purpose, to keep a tally and something else which I haven't figured out yet. There's no link between the victims, they were just on the street at the wrong time. He kills because he wants to," Sherlock looked to John and for a split he could almost certainly say he saw the slightest hint of amusement coming from the doctor.

"A lot of people collect buttons Sherlock,"

"Yes but this person will have a small collection on their person, unless they've been doing this for years, it would be well hidden. It's like they thought this all over before they started killing in the first place,"

"Well at least this serial killer isn't obsessed with you,"

"True, more people would be dying if they were, people are still dying at a constant rate though,"

"But you're enjoying it?"

"Well of course I am, this is the most exciting case I've had in weeks maybe even months,"

John chuckled a little. It wasn't uncommon for them for the two men to have a quiet laugh whilst talking about a case or being at an actual crime scene, they laughed like this when they first met. No matter what little laughter or smiles that came from Sherlock it was still obvious he was still frustrated, this killer had been killing for weeks maybe even months and Sherlock had only found the connection to the bodies in the morgue a few weeks ago. He wouldn't say out loud but he was slightly impressed that this killer could have evaded his sight for so long. It was certainly an exciting case. Sherlock would make sure that they would have a little 'chat'. The taxi pulled up to 221B and, as usual, John paid before following Sherlock into the flat. It was good to be home.

"Well, I'm off to bed a busy day tomorrow," John said smiling.

"Days are always busy why is tomorrow so different?"

"It's Friday tomorrow Sherlock, drunken Friday as very few call it,"

"Goodnight John,"

"You're going to bed too, doctors' orders and I mean it this time,"

"John I don't need to sleep,"

"Yes you bloody well do otherwise you'll never catch him,"

"John, let it go, I don't need any sleep,"

"If you pass out I will leave you to Anderson,"

"You wouldn't,"

"I might,"

"No you wouldn't, you're a doctor, you would help me without having a second thought, now goodnight John," Sherlock continued to walk into the kitchen and John sighed, irritated before leaving and walks into his room, closing the door. Sherlock got on with the case at hand and ended up covering the wall in all the information he had on the killer which in truth wasn't much. He worked well into the night and finally he listened to his doctors advice and went to bed.

For once, John got up before Sherlock did and slowly made his way to the kitchen flipping the switch on the kettle, makes his tea and walks back into the living room staring at the wall.

"He really is completely clueless," John mumbles to himself as he sips his tea. "I haven't seen him this involved since Jim,"

"John!" Sherlock shouted as he bolted from his bedroom. "The killer, the murders are happening after hours, he works on a late shift, he doesn't do murders tool ate because of his style of work, he's a surgeon John!" John smiled. '_Finally he's getting somewhere'_

"See, sleep does do you some good,"

"It was a factor," Sherlock smiled. "We're closer John, we're finally a step closer to catching him,"


End file.
